1
2
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
The study has been completed at
the College of Foreign Languages, University of Danang
LƯƠNG THỊ HỒNG CHI
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. LƯU QUÝ KHƯƠNG
AN INVESTIGATION INTO
MORPHOLOGICAL, SEMANTIC AND
CULTURAL FEATURES OF SLANG IN
ENGLISH HIP HOP SONGS
Field
: The English Language
Code
:
60.22.15
Examiner 1: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngô Đình Phương
Examiner 2: Hồ Thị Kiều Oanh, Ph. D.
The thesis was be orally defended at the Examining Committee
Time: October 2012
Venue: University of Danang
M.A. THESIS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
(A SUMMARY)
The origin of the thesis is accessible for the purpose of reference at:
- The College of Foreign Languages Library, University of Danang
Danang, 2012
- Information Resources Centre, University of Danang
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CHAPTER 1
example one can see that misusing slang would result in
INTRODUCTION
misunderstanding in the communication. It can not tell others that
1.1. RATIONALE
Slang is a subject that provokes strong emotions. It is spoken
one is good at English. It is not thus; moreover it shows that one just
has half-back knowledge about slang.
by people in daily speech, and a large number of them can even be
Nowadays, more and more hip hop artists tend to use slang to
found in magazines and literary works. With the development of the
express their feeling. Although the sentences of a certain lyric in the
society, slang is widely used by more and more people. It is accepted
hip hop songs are often shortened and unfinished and sometimes,
by both upper-classes and lower-classes, and especially college
they are not grammatically correct either, composers try to arrange a
students who tend to use up-to-date words that form a kind of
group of words correctly so as to get beautiful lyrics. Hip hop songs
characteristic style of themselves.
usually tell us about human activities, violence or social criticism. In
However, people’s attitude toward slang varies greatly. Some
those songs, the sentence structures and the choice of words are not
people think that slang cannot be used on formal occasions, for it is
really paid attention to. These songs mostly present non-standard
spoken by the people of lower classes only and the slang terms are so
English, which tends to be vulgar, lazy in pronunciation and it is
coarse. Some even think that slang is the rude language, and avoid
often talked about as bad, incorrect and poor English. Most of the
using it. However, others hold the opposite idea. They think that
words in the lyrics are slang words. However, it is slang that can help
slang plays an important role in the language because of its fresh,
composers to verbalize from the bottom of their heart.
lifelike, humor and adequate expressions. One must admit the
Two to the one from the one to the three. I like good pussy
undeniable fact that slang is spoken by more and more people.
and I like good trees. Smoke so much weed you wouldn’t
In the modern time, if one is not familiar with slang, he or
believe. And I get more ass than a toilet seat …. (Relax).
she could not capture the slang expressions in the movie, fictions and
[185]
even in their favourite songs and, what is worse, one would make
There are a number of slang words used in the above song
mistakes when they are talking with foreigners. An example will
such as pussy ‘a woman as a sexual object’, trees, weed ‘marijuana’,
clarify the fact. A guide asks the tourist “Anybody wants to take a
ass ‘buttocks”. Reading or listening to these words, some people
leak?” (Does anybody want to go to the restroom?), and, of course,
who use English as a second or a foreign language may get confused
what the guide said would make the tourist surprised. It is an
in comprehending the meaning of the song lyrics because the slang
expression of vulgarity. Therefore, one should bear in mind that it is
words have the specific meaning.
very important to study language in a socio-cultural context; the
It could be seen that studying slang is one of the interesting
language has existed in a close contact with culture. From the
ways to ameliorate and develop language learners’ vocabulary. And
5
in respect of culture, language learners can get acquainted with the
6
1.3. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
past and present social life of people and understand their way of
Through an investigation of morphological, semantic and
living, thinking as well as their tradition through slang. Therefore,
cultural features of SEHSs, the study meaningfully contributes to
studying slang is very important to teachers and learners of English
slang research. Besides, it can be used as a reference for the readers
not only to improve their comprehension but also to understand
who are interested in EHSs.
different cultures.
To be equipped with the knowledge of slang, non-native
For the reasons above, the topic entitled “An Investigation
learners of English in general and Vietnamese learners of English in
into Morphological, Semantic and Cultural Features of Slang in
particular will be able to comprehend such interesting and popular
English Hip Hop Songs” has been chosen for my MA thesis with the
hip hop songs whose lyrics contain a lot of slang. Also, it is possible
hope that it will contribute something valuable to the English
for learners to gain a better insight into various cultural aspects of
teaching and learning, as well as communication and translation.
native speakers. They can, to some extent, use slang for better
1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
communication
1.2.1. Aims
This thesis is carried out with an aim to investigate some
morphological, semantic and cultural features of slang in English hip
hop songs (SEHSs)
1.2.2. Objectives
This paper is designed to reach the following objectives:
- to investigate morphological and semantic features of
SEHSs
1.4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
To achieve the above objectives, the study tried to answer the
following questions:
1. What are morphological and semantic features of SEHSs?
2. What are cultural features of SEHSs?
3. What are the suggestions for teaching and learning English
slang especially slang in EHSs?
1.5. SCOPE OF THE STUDY
- to discover typical cultural characteristics of SEHSs
The study was confined to dealing with 300 samples of slang
affecting the interpretation and communication of non-native learners
words in English hip hop songs, mainly from such famous hip hop
of English
stars or bands as Emimem, Dr.Dre, 50 Cent, Missy Elliott, Snoop
- to provide non-native learners of English with a basic
Dogg and 2Pac. The study will focus on the morphological, semantic
knowledge of slang help them understand, use slang in speaking, and
and cultural features of slang words in EHSs.
in translating effectively and naturally.
1.6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY
- to suggest some implications for English teaching and
studying, translation as well as communication.
This research paper was organized as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
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8
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Also, Đinh Quang Trung [16] investigated the syntactic,
Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology
semantic and cultural features of english slang containing words
Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion
denoting animals
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Implications
Although some various aspects of slang have so far been
investigated, no attention has been paid to the morphological and
CHAPTER 2
cultural features of slang words in EHSs. This is the reason why “An
LITERATURE REVIEW
Investigation into Morphological, Semantic and Cultural Features
AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
of Slang in English Hip Hop Songs” came into being as an attempt
2.1. LITERATURE REVIEW
There have been a lot of researches on slang before.
Widayanik [48] studied the characteristics of non-standard English
used in Missy Elliot’s songs and gives explanation to the meaning of
to find out the morphological, semantic and cultural features of
SEHSs.
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.2.1. Definition of Slang
slang words in the songs as well as identifies the aspect of contextual
According to Eble [17, p.11], “slang is an ever changing set
meaning. Oksiana [34] described the slang words and slang
of colloquial words and phrases that speakers use to establish or
meanings used in D12 song’s lyrics related to race, drugs, and
reinforce social identity or cohesiveness within a group or with a
violence. Wismandira [49] examined types of syntactic structures
trend or fashion in society at large.” Despite the difficulty of precise
found in the six rap songs of “Rage Against the Machine” and found
definition of the term, Eble [17, p.12,13], stressed novelty and
the most predominant type of syntactic structures in these songs.
ephemerality as principal characteristics of slang.
Mattiello [30] fully described slang in terms of features of its
Leech and Svartvik [27, p.26] presented slang in the
morphology, semantics and sociology. She gave the overview of
following way, “slang is language which is very familiar in style, and
slang compared with standard words used in English.
is usually restricted to the members of a particular social group, for
In Vietnam, up to now, some authors have paid attention to
example ´teenage slang´, ´army slang´, ´theatre slang´. Slang is not
slang. Bùi Phụng [56] provided a useful collection of American-
usually fully understood by people outside a particular social group,
Vietnamese slang and colloquial expressions. Besides, there are some
and so has a value of showing the intimacy and solidarity of its
dictionaries on slang such as “Sổ tay từ ngữ lóng tiếng Việt” by Đoàn
members.”
Tử Huyến & Lê Thị Yến [52], “Tiếng lóng Việt Nam” by Nguyễn
Slang has also attracted the interest of many Vietnamese
Văn Khang [54] and “Từ ngữ giải thích tiếng lóng Anh ngữ hiện ñại”
linguistic researchers. Nguyễn Văn Khang [54, p.14] cited Nguyễn
by Nguyễn Dương Khư and Phạm Duy Trọng [55]
Thiện Giáp [53] and said that “Tiếng lóng là những tữ ngữ ñược dùng
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hạn chế về mặt xã hội, tức là những từ ngữ không phải toàn dân sử
hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic
dụng mà chỉ một tầng lớp xã hội nào ñó sử dụng mà thôi” (Slang is
music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming
a term which has social restrictions. It doesn’t belong to all the
speech that is chanted.” and it consists “four key stylistic elements:
people but a particular social group).
MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching, breaking/dancing, and graffiti
Nguyễn Văn Tu [57] stated that “Tiếng lóng chỉ gồm có một
số từ. Nó không phải công cụ giao tiếp của xã hội mà chỉ là một số từ
với ý nghĩa bí hiểm của một nhóm người với mục ñích không cho
người khác biết”
writing. Other elements include sampling (or synthesis), and
beatboxing”
In the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary from the
website: www.oxfordadvancedlearnersdictionary.com [71], hip hop
(Slang consists of only a few words. It's not a tool of social
was defined as “a type of popular music with spoken words and a
communication but a term used by a group of people with the sense
steady beat played on electronic instruments, originally played by
of secrecy in order not to let others understand).
young African Americans”
From all above, though people have different ideas about
From the definitions above, the one from the website:
slang, one still can find out some common characteristics of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_hop_music [59] is supposed to be
Therefore, in this study, the definition by Leech and Svartvik [27]
the clearest of what hip hop is. In which, we know that hip hop is a
has been chosen as the working definition of slang. In our opinion, it
stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping.
is by far the most sufficiently comprehensive, satisfying and
Therefore, that definition has been chosen to be the working
necessary conditions of slang.
definition in this study.
2.2.2. Slang and Other Similar Language Units
2.2.2.1. Slang and Jargon
2.2.4. The Morphological Properties
In Plag’s opinion [38], word-formation processes consist of
2.2.2.2. Slang and Cant
compounding, blending, clipping, back-formation, conversion,
2.2.2.3. Slang and Dialect
acronyms, prefixation, suffixation and so on.
2.2.2.4. Slang and Vernacular
2.2.4.1. Suffixation
2.2.2.5. Slang and Accent
2.2.4.2. Prefixation
2.2.2.6. Slang and Colloquial Language
2.2.4.3. Infixation
2.2.2.7. Specific and General Slang
2.2.4.4. Conversion
2.2.3. Definition of Hip hop
According
to
website:
2.2.4.5. Truncation (Clipping)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Hiphopmusic [62] “Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music,
2.2.4.6. Diminutive
2.2.4.7. Blending
11
12
2.2.4.8. Abbreviations
As stated by Houser [21, p.15], quantitative research methods
2.2.4.9. Compounding
have been considered to be the traditional approach to research in
2.2.5. Concepts of Semantic Field
counseling and psychology. It is defined as “research that is based
According to Fisiak [24, p.283], a semantic field is “a set of
on measurement and qualification of the data. Whatever the
lexemes which cover a certain conceptual domain and which bear
dependent variable of interest in quantitative research, there must be
certain specifiable relations to one another”.
a way to transform it into numbers”.
In Akmajian, Demers, Farmer, Harnish [1, p.240] ’s
Houser [21, p.12] defined quanlitative research methods in
viewpoint, “the words in a semantic field, though not synonymous,
terms of “how data is analyzed and which research designs are used.
are all used to talk about the same general phenomenon, and there is
Data is collected and analyzed more descriptively than numerically.
a meaning inclusion relation between the items in the field and the
Also, qualitative methods include research approaches such as case
field category itself”.
study methods and ethonographic approaches, along with other
2.2.6. The Relationship of Language and Culture
2.2.6.1. Concepts of Culture
2.2.6.2. The Relationship of Language and Culture
designs.”
3.3. DATA COLLECTION
3.3.1. Sampling
316 samples of slang are expected to be collected for
CHAPTER 3
examining the study. They are taken from 150 famous EHSs of such
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
famous hip hop stars as Emimem, Dr.Dre, 50 Cent, Missy Elliott,
3.1. OVERVIEW
Snoop Dogg and 2Pac. Among 316 samples which are used for
3.2. RESEARCH DESIGN
investigating into semantic and cultural features, only 229 samples
McMillan and Schumacher [31, p.31] described research
design as “the plan and structure of the investigation used to
obtain
evidence
to
answer
research questions. The design
describes the procedures for conducting the study, including when,
from whom, and under what conditions the data will be obtained”. In
are chosen for analysing morphological features because of their own
properties.
3.3.2. Instrumentation
- A significant number of monolingual and bilingual
dictionaries of slang in both languages
other words, research design indicates how the research is set up:
- Google search.
what happens to the subjects and what methods of data collection are
3.3.3. Data Collection
used.
Firstly, in order to make the corpus for the study, a large
number of slang are collected as many as possible from English hip
13
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hop songs of famous hip hop artists such as Emimem, Dr.Dre, 50
Cent, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg and 2Pac.
Secondly, thanks to slang dictionaies, some other similar
language units are excluded from the list.
Finally, the corpus of 316 samples of slang words are chosen
- Collecting the slang words from the transcripts of the Hip
hop songs by marking them in the bold type; Checking the words
whether they are slang or not by using some dictionaries of slang
such as Unconventional English and Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary, The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang,
for the investigation.
The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional
3.4. DATA ANALYSIS
English, NTC’s Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial
Morphologically, the classification of the data was maily
Expressions and so on.
based on the word-formation of slang, namely compounding,
prefixation, suffixation, blending, truncation and so on.
- Calculating the frequency of occurence to decide on the
focus of the study, i.e., which slang was chosen to be investigated.
- Generalizing the linguistic features of slang in the field of
Semantically, the collectd data were processed in terms of
meaning they showed. Then, they were put into the different
Morphology and Semantics.
- Studying the culture of slang in EHSs.
semantic fields to which each sample belongs.
- Making tables of classifying the slang words to know the
Culturally, the study presented the cultural features of slang
in EHSs by discovering the implication of slang throung the lyrics of
frequency of the pattern of slang in the songs.
those songs.
- Pointing out some problematic situations in foreign
After that some findings and discussion were presented, a
language teaching and learning facing Vietnamese learners of
statistical table was set up to show the frequency of the pattern of
English in identifying, performing and translating slang and then
slang in the EHSs. The statistics were presented in numbers and in
putting forward some suggestions for the problems.
percentage.
3.6. RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
3.5. RESEARCH PROCEDURES
3.7. SUMMARY
The research procedures are carried out as follows:
- Identifying and choosing the research topic by reviewing
CHAPTER 4
the previous studies thoroughly. It was to select the relevant materials
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
such as books, theses and researches relating to our topic in English
4.1. OVERVIEW
and Vietnamese.
4.2.
- Choosing the appropriate approach to the problem.
MORPHOLOGICAL
FEATURES
ENGLISH HIP HOP SONGS
4.2.1. Suffixation
OF
SLANG
IN
15
16
4.2.1.1. Nominal Suffixes
a. Nominal Compounds
57
24.9
4.2.1.2. Adjectival Suffixes
b. Adjectival compounds
13
5.7
c.Verbal Compounds
Truncation
a.First syllable(s)
b.Primarily Stressed Syllables
c. Secondarily Stressed Syllables
Conversion
a. Noun to Verb
b.Verb to Noun
c. Noun to Adjective
Blending
Back-formation
Abbreviations
Diminutive
Total
2
32
25
1
6
9
3
2
4
8
9
8
8
229
0.9
13.9
10.9
0.4
2.6
3.9
1.3
0.9
1.7
3.6
3.9
3.6
3.6
100
4.2.2. Prefixation
Slang words in this study are produced from the combination
[4]
between a prefix and a verb
4.2.3. Compounding
4.2.3.1. Nominal Compounds
4.2.3.2. Adjectival Compounds
[5]
4.2.3.3 Verbal Compounds
4.2.4. Truncation (Clipping)
4.2.4.1. First Syllable Survives
4.2.4.2. Primarily Stressed Syllable Survives
4.2.4.3. Secondarily Stressed Syllable Survives
4.2.5. Conversion
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
4.2.5.1. Noun to Verb
4.2.5.2. Verb to Noun
4.3. SEMANTIC FEATURES OF SLANG IN ENGLISH HIP
4.2.5.3. Noun to Adjective
HOP SONGS
4.2.6. Blending
4.2.7. Back-formation
4.3.1. Slang Relating to Drugs
(1)
I used to stick closer to your side then a beeper
4.2.8. Abbreviations
Till you smoked that cheaper reefer
4.2.9. Diminutive
In hip hop artists’ terminilogy, “a marijuana cigarette” is
Table 4.1. Frequency of Morphological Features of Slang in EHSs
Morphological Features
Occurrence
%
[1] Suffixation
82
35.7
a. Nominal Suffixes
65
28.4
b.Adjectival Suffixes
17
7.4
[2] Prefixation
1
0.4
[3] Compounding
72
31.4
[101]
called reefer.
4.3.2. Slang Relating to Sex
(2)
Soft
punk
looking
for
some
Go ahead, fucking hater push me.
(3)
nookie
or
bosom
[96]
So what you had your little coochie in your dad’s mouth?
[154]
17
18
The hip hop artists often turn out to be obscene when they
make use of words refer to various types of the vagina (coochie,
4.3.6. Slang Relating to Weapons
(10)
bush, pussy, nookie).
I got burners for sell and shit.
4.3.3. Slang Relating to Crime
(4)
(5)
[210]
Burner has several meanings. Burner as a slang term is
Go in and gaffle the money and run to one of your aunt’s
cribs
Nigga holla if there's a problem, and your niggas got drama,
commonly used to describe a weapon of some kind, usually a pistol.
[123]
You wacker than the motherfucker you bit your style from
4.3.7. Slang Relating to Body Parts.
(11)
[139]
It's enough to make you crazy
It's fuckin' with my dome.
[127]
Each body part has one or more specific functions which
Gaffle means “to steal something” and bite is used to
indicate “copy or steal another person’s style, especially a
distinguish them from the others.
breakdancing move or a rap lyric or sound”
(12) I like funny things that make me happy and gleeful (hehehe)
4.3.4. Slang Relating to the Police
(6)
He don't want it with me, he in PC
I can have a nigga run up on him with a shank.
(7)
like when my teacher sucked my wee-wee in preschool
(Woo!).
But they didn't know this was tha wrong street.
As (4.67), wee-wee, children’s toilet vocabulary, is used to
[173]
Coppers try to kill mes
[132]
show “urine” or “urination
[211]
The examples above show that PC and coppers imply the
4.3.8. Slang Denoting Impertinence and Offensiveness
(13)
Be easy, stop the bullshit, you get your whole crew wet
police. If a British and Canadian person is called PC, that means she/
We in the club doin' the same ol' two step.
he is a police constable and if they are called “coppers”, they are
In the examples above, bullshit is considered as the manner
police officers.
4.3.5. Slang Relating to Money
(8)
Not to fuck with his cheddar, his man pack a beretta
of talking nonsense and doing things to piss people off. Other slang
words denoting impertinence and offensiveness are related to bad
quality (crummy, tough titty!) or even nonsense (booshit, shit)
He won't hesitate to squeeze that, over that green back. [175]
(9)
Besides, other offensive slang words are rather related are
My back shot to help Ashanti hit them high notes
related to foolishness:
And Big Ben taught Charli B'More to deep throat (yea).[145]
(14)
Greenback is a U.S. dollar bill. Big Ben in the example
above is a hundred-dollar note minted in the late 1990s.
[217]
Michael Vick in this bitch, fall back you mutts.
[96]
4.3.9. Slang Denoting Excellence
(15)
Just woke up in my bedroom wizzy, While ya on break let yo
kitty air
[102]
19
(16)
20
I finally made it.
word used by non Californians. Typically, it is often thought of as a
Not as a superstar rapper, not as an ill-ass white boy, but as a
children's word. Only posers and losers use this word to seem cool
respected emcee.
[81]
The term wizzy, whose variation is wizard, is used to indicate
4.3.12. Slang Relating to People
(21)
something excellent, exciting or wonderful and is employed for
registering general approval. And the term ill-ass is used to descibe
I’m a sucka, all I gotta say
These drugs really got a hold of me
(22)
[104]
Beeitch, if you ain’t got no kinda chronic, yo punk ass gots to go!
something excellent or superb.
[79]
4.3.10. Slang Relating to Transport
(17)
(18)
In the examples above, sucka is employed to address “a stupid
I'm in my Lambo maggot, my fo' fo' faggot Doors lift up I'm
person” and beeitch is used as a synonym of “bitch,” especially as a a
like Go Go Gadget
derogatory term for a woman. Other slang words relating to a woman or
[198]
young woman (pussycat, shortie, etc.) , a pal (homie) or even an
My attitude is bitchy, cuz my period is heavy
I used to drive a Chevy, put twenties on that baby
[113]
important person (biggie, big shit).
Lambo is used to indicate an expensive and exotic car which
is not seen very often. It is short for Lamborghini, whose symbol is a
4.3.13. Slang Relating to Entertaiment
(23) Radio won’t even play my jam
bull symbolizing the taurus while Chevy is a Chevrolet automobile,
an American car manufacturer owned by General Motors.
’Cause I am whatever you say I am
(24)
(19) New York, St. Louis, Chicago, Philly, LA, Atlanta
He he, yeah, know what I'm sayin?
I'm diggin' that
boogie is used to denote “a kind of rock dance”.
[143]
Table 4.1. Frequency of Semantic Features of Slang in EHSs
My life is like a soundtrack I wrote to the beat
Treat my rap like Cali weed, I smoke till I sleep
[209]
Jam is a slang term indicating someone’s favourite song and
But how about the ladies that got a head full of fake weave or
(20)
Dance a little bit
You don't mind if I get my boogie on do you?
4.3.11. Slang Relating to Places
braids
[207]
Semantic Features
Occurrence
Percentage
[197]
1
Drugs
45
14.2
Philly is a slang term for one of the greatest cities in the
2
Sex
49
15.5
United States, It is used instead of Philadelphia to explain someone’s
3
Crime
17
5.4
point more quickly. LA is utilized to indicate Los Angeles, also a
4
The police
16
5.1
famous city in the United States while Cali is short for California, a
5
Money
17
5.4
6
Weapon
14
4.4
21
22
7
Body parts
34
10.8
8
Impertinence and
32
10.1
5.2. CONCLUSIONS
(i) In terms of morphological features, under the viewpoint of
Plag (2003), after examining 229 samples of slang words, we found
Offensiveness
9
Excellence
13
4.1
that slang can be presented in nine differrent word-formation patterns
10
Transport
15
4.7
including suffixation, prefixation, compounding, truncation, blending
11
Places
10
3.2
and so on.
12
People
19
6.0
The most popular pattern of slang is suffixation, in which
13
Entertainment
11
3.5
nominal suffixes make up the highest rate in occurrence frequency.
14
Others
24
7.8
On the other hand, prefixation presents the lowest rate in the data.
316
100
Total
4.4. CULTURAL FEATURES OF SLANG IN ENGLISH HIP
(ii) In terms of semantic features, some of the slang words in
the data, while commonly used on the street, might be offensive to
HOP SONGS
readers who are not part of “the slang scene.” As the objective of this
4.4.1. Anti-authority Symbols
process was to improve the comprehensiveness, accuracy, and
4.4.2. Sexuality Symbols
appropriateness of terms in the EHSs, all of the terms are included in
4.4.3. Gun and Violence Symbols
the corpus. For this reason, slang words are found particularly rich in
4.4.4. Drugs and Alcohol Symbols
a certain semantic sub-field, such as violence, crime, drugs, sex,
4.4.5. Criminality Symbols
impertinence and so on while the number of slang words which have
4.4.6. Time Efficiency
positive or neutral meaning seem to be fewer and belong to the such
semantic sub-fields as excellence, people, entertainment and so on.
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS
5.1. OVERVIEW
(iii) In terms of cultural features, as the EHSs in this thesis
were written and presented by American hip hop artists, the data
were analysed mainly based on American cultural values. As the
This chapter provided a brief overview of the study as well
American culture is much different from the Vietnamese culture, the
as the conclusions. Basing on the analysis of the results of the study
way of the American using slang may be surprising to the
in chapter 4, some implications in teaching and learning slang in
Vietnamese. Such cultural features as anti-authority, sexuality, drugs,
English as a foreign language as well as some implications in
criminality symbols will be challenging to the people who don’t
translating slang were suggested. After all, some recommendations
know much about the world of hip hop where its lyrics are all about
for further research would be also mentioned.
the realities of life and it is, therefore, honest without any reserve.
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5.3. IMPLICATIONS
Fourthly, teachers can give students a short list of non-slang
5.3.1. Implications for Teaching and Learning Slang
expressions and ask them to search the Internet or ask friends to find
Firsly, in order to make students be accustomed to informal
corresponding slang expressions. If students stay with teachers for a
usage of language, the best way to start introducing slang in the
long period, teachers can start building a slang dictionary. Everyone
classroom will be by teaching song lyrics first, then followed by
should bring one slang for each lesson. Teachers use the slang words
showing movies. After getting used to hear unusual slang words and
during the lesson, add them to the dictionary and discuss if their
expressions finally students can play roles and take part in
current or dated and in what context students can use them and then
simulations using colloquial speech. This means that teachers should
teachers show them if the slang words are offensive, sexist, obscene
improve students’ listening skills to make them good speakers later.
or naughty.
However, students should initially be acquainted with slang words
Overall, teachers should instruct their students on the cultural
and expressions; a teacher can give them a list of frequently used
background of language usage. If one teaches language without
slang words and explain the major differences between standard and
teaching about the culture in which it operates, the students are
nonstandard words.
learning empty or meaningless symbols or they may attach the
Secondly, teachers can give students lyrics
with various
incorrect meaning to what is being taught. The students, when using
words blanked out; or teachers can give students a list of words and
the learnt language, may use the language inappropriately or within
ask them to listen to the song to see which of the words are used.
the wrong cultural context, thus defeating the purpose of learning a
Teachers can ask students to put lines in order, or complete half-
language.
finished lines. Or teachers can simply have students listen to a song
and say what they think the title might be.
Many people believe that Hip hop songs generate nothing but
violence, sex, drug, crime or so on. However, that is only a small part
Thirdly, it is preferably to show a video which is not deep in
of hip hop; there are many positive outcomes that hip-hop provides.
meaning so that students can concentrate mainly on the voice of the
Hip-hop music that use violent lyrics or scenes in music videos
singers rather than the meaning itself. As a pre-watching activity
promotes listeners to think about how they feel is right or wrong
students are given a list of slang vocabulary used in the video so that
about these types of songs and why they occur. Hip-hop also brings
they can determine the meaning of new slang words and expressions,
social and political awareness about certain issues such as racial
or a teacher can give them their definitions which students will
inequality, gender inequality, education, family and so on since hip
discuss in class, whose standard equivalents they compare with and
hop artists tend to tell their individual's experiences, perspectives, or
they can eventually understand the lyrics while watching that video.
just stories in their life.
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5.3.2. Implications for Translating Slang
Firstly, you must either focus on the form and content
(semantic meaning) of the source text (ST) or the effect of the target
text (TT). If you focus on the former, this is labelled a ST oriented
strategy and if you focus on the latter, this is labelled a TT oriented
strategy. You have to decide what you want to emphasise in your
translation: How the ST looks and appears and thereby emphasising
that the ST contents are the important element and must be visible in
the TT or how the TT is to work within the TT culture, allowing for
differences in the form between the ST and the TT.
Secondly, a way to find out what a certain slang expression
means is
to go to a website specialised in slang, such as
urbandictionary.com and look into what the article on the term in
question offers as a definition. Since the peer-reviews on
urbandictionary.com help slang words and expressions gain some
validity, this may give the translator an idea of what the word or
expression connotes, and, if the translator then knows a similar
expression in his/her native tongue, this could be used as the
suggested translation.
Finally, discussion forums such as wordreference.com and
proz.com are designed for language and translation purposes and
attract professional linguists, translation scholars and translators from
all over the world who provide answers and suggestions to questions
about terminology/linguistic features that are difficult to translate.
5.4. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
Although we have made a great effort to carry out this study,
some of the limitations and the shortcomings are inevitable.
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Firstly, the data chosen to make the study on are deeply
limited to only slang words in EHSs by some of famous American
artists. Therefore, although a wide search has been made on many
sources of slang in English, only a moderate number of data of not
more than 300 slang words have been finally collected to investigate
the problem stated, which may make a challenge for us to reach to a
much more convincing conclusion.
Secondly, due to the lack of time and reference materials, we
didn’t pay attention to analyzing the data in terms of syntactic and
pragmatic features. Therefore, we could not exploit all the data as
much as we expected.
Finally, this thesis would be better if there was a comparison
in slang between English and Vietnamese. As Vietnamese hip hop
songs have recently been in popularity and the use of slang in those
songs has not been common, we could not find enough slang words
inVietnamese to carry out the thesis in both languages.
5.5. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES
This thesis has focused only on studying the morrphological,
semantic and cultural features of slang in EHSs. Therefore, there still
have some topics related to this problem left for further researches:
(i) Investigation into syntactic and pragmatic features of
slang in EHSs
(ii) Investigation into linguistic features of slang in poems, in
political speeches, in newspapers, in magazines and so on.